Stress, well-being and reproductive success

Abstract

To reverse the trend of declining wildlife populations globally, individuals must be provided with conditions that allow them to not just survive, but to thrive. It is no longer only the remit of captive breeding programs to ensure animal well-being; in situ conservation efforts also must consider how environmental and anthropogenic pressures impact wild populations, and how to mitigate them—especially with regards to reproduction and survival. Stress and welfare are complex concepts that necessitate an understanding of how stressors affect animals on both individual and population levels. There are species differences in how factors impact well-being, related in part to natural history, which also are shaped by individual perceptions and coping abilities. A multitude of stress-related responses then have the potential to disrupt fertility on many levels, and ultimately fitness. A major limitation to advancing welfare science is the lack of definitive tests to verify welfare status; i.e., is the animal happy or not? While analyses of circulating or excreted glucocorticoids have for decades been the primary method of assessing stress, today we recognize the need for more objective indicators that incorporate multiple physiological systems, including behavior, to assess both negative and positive welfare states. In this chapter, we discuss the potential for stress to disrupt, and sometimes facilitate reproduction, including the key role that glucocorticoids play. We then discuss a number of physiological biomarkers, which in addition to glucocorticoids, have the potential to assess well-being and the role of stress on reproduction. Finally, we discuss allostatic load, a method by which multiple physiological markers are used to inform on morbidity and mortality risk in humans, which if applied to wildlife, could be a powerful tool for conservation.